We had a pretty even quarter to open the game, both teams were shooting the ball well, unfortunately the Phoenix were shooting it better. But the Flyers knew that the rate it was dropping was too high to maintain for a full 40-minutes. Cheshire began the game shooting 65% across the field and it was a case of keeping up for Bristol.

A lot of these points came from easy opportunities for Cheshire with Bristol handing the ball over to the away side seven times in the quarter alone. As well as seven turnovers, the Flyers gave Cheshire 13 fast break points, almost half of their scoring from the period. What does this mean? Well, fast break points to the most part are what it says on the tin. They’re scored on the fast break. But why is this relevant? If points are scored on a fast break it generally means the defence hasn’t been able to get back into their preferred formation to be able to handle an offensive possession effectively. The Flyers just seemed a bit slower and were being made to pay for it.

CRASHING THE BOARDS

One area the Flyers though did excel was in second chance points. If the Flyers missed, they were prepared to grab the offensive rebound and get another opportunity from it. For the quarter, Bristol pulled in four offensive rebounds and scored seven points on their second opportunities. Cheshire’s seven-footer, CJ Gettys looked to be struggling with just one rebound as Mike Vigor handled the two-time BBL player of the month solidly to open the game.

Flyers scored seven second chance points in the first quarter

Getting back in transition

Into the second quarter and the turnover issues switched sides, Cheshire committed six in comparison to Bristol’s three but both sides continued their good shooting form. Bristol took advantage of the Cheshire turnovers and was able to add nine points to their total from the six take-aways.

The Flyers stepped up their defence in the second as Cheshire struggled to find a way through. Bristol covered everything possible to stop giving up easy fast break points as they did in the first period. In the first, the home side gave up 13 fast break points, in the second, just one. And fortunately for the home side, when they fouled Cheshire, although they were shooting well from the field, their free throw shooting left a lot to be desired as they missed five of their free shots in the quarter alone (2/7).

Phoenix Go Frosty

We move into the second half and Bristol was able to carry on where they left off. Cheshire though, was not. Cheshire’s shooting percentage dropped heavily as they went from a 62% shooting team in the first half to 45% for the third quarter.

Where Bristol did shine was their own shooting; they shot 75% in the period including 3/3 from three-point range, two of which came from Brandon Boggs who dropped 12 of his game-high 22 in the third. But it wasn’t just down to Boggs, the bench also contributed 12 points in the quarter and Bristol had one of their best shooting periods of the season on their way to 32 points. Nine of Bristol’s 12 made shots came through assists as the home team shared the ball and were getting fouled at a good rate as well, heading to the line for seven attempts, making five.

Heated finish

Many in the WISE Arena must have thought the game might be over with a 13-point lead heading into the fourth and Cheshire seemingly dropping their shooting rate significantly.

But the many would be wrong. Cheshire started the final period well and on the back of a 12-4 run, had cut the game to just five points with five minutes remaining.

Cheshire’s bench came alive and were nearly fully responsible for the comeback. Devan Bailey contributed eight points in the quarter (including two threes, 3/3 for the night) and Alassan Touray, nine points. Raheem May-Thompson’s three then added to the run and Cheshire took the lead.

Cheshire was also being sent to the foul line consistently as the Flyers got themselves into the penalty early. Cheshire added more points from free throws in the fourth quarter than they had in the first three combined (eight in fourth, seven in rest of game).

Bristol was suddenly on the back-foot and their own bench began to step-up. Rohndell Goodwin added six points in the period and Adam Weary, who has spent much of the season backing up Goodwin added another five.

Bristol, only made six shots in the ten minutes, five of these though came on assists so it seemingly wasn’t selfish play that was causing the missed shots.

Cheshire handled the ball ridiculously well in the fourth quarter and ensured they took a lot of shots. The Phoenix also only turned the ball over on one occasion. Single moments though can change games as Alassan Touray’s offensive foul gave Bristol the ball back.

The Flyers, down by two turned to another bench presence in Panos Mayindombe, who added a vital three to turn the game back in the home team’s favour and with Cheshire’s best shooting option (Bailey) now having fouled out, were forced to turn to other options. It was Robert Sandoval who was the man to try grab the game back but the Point Guard’s shooting for the night was average at best (7/17).

SHOOTING PERCENTAGES

By the end of the game, both sides had shot great percentages, rebounded well, shared the ball well and turned it over at a similar rate (see table below). The problem for Cheshire seemed to be their third quarter, shooting 9/20 was a killer when the Flyers shot it so well at 12/16. 9/20 would normally be just fine on another day but if you add that together with the Phoenix’ eight missed free throws you put yourself in an awkward spot.

FG%

2PT

3PT

REB

AST

TO

BRI

54%

59%

42%

33

28

15

CHE

52%

56%

42%

33

25

16

With such good shooting all evening, this was one that was a solid advert for BBL basketball. 12 of the 16 players making an appearance in the game reached double figures in points and only one player who did make double figures shot below 40% from the field.

About the contributor

A passionate fan of basketball since 2004, Aaron briefly played at SGS (then Filton College) under Head Coach Andreas Kapoulas.

Fast forward a number of years, Aaron now contributes to recording the statistics for the Flyers home games as a club Statistician, you’ll often find him sat at the table courtside taking stats into his laptop at every home game.

Do you agree with Aaron? Follow him on Twitter @eamer and let him know what you think!